5 Game Skid to End Regular Season and Spur Post Season Run

Well, we got to see what #4 in the country looked like when we played MIT.  They were good, and although we didn't think we played our best, they were a very tough opponent and forced us out of what we wanted to do.  We did have some alums and parents of alums there to watch in addition to some of our own parents, and we still had two good teams to play the next day vs Springfield and Babson, both ranked in the top of NE.  To the right are the parents of former standout setter, Katie Kenney Enslin '03, and below is former player and coach, Meg Anderson '14.  We LOVE the support we continue to get from former MCVB families, reinforcing that MCVB really is "family for life!"  THANK YOU!

Unfortunately for us, our woes continued the next day as we lost a tightly contested Springfield match in 5 sets and then lost another tightly contested 3 set sweep by Babson.  Needless to say, it was a disappointing weekend for us as we just were out of sync and couldn't quite put a run together anywhere on the court.  It was an odd sensation after having played so well together for quite a stretch.  Moreover, none of us seemed able to put a finger on just what exactly was going wrong.

Well, we got back to work and still felt like we had a lot of volleyball left to play.  We were still ranked 2nd in both the NESCAC and in the Region and were heading into our final weekend against the two lowest ranking teams in our Conference, which actually doesn't mean all that much because everyone is SO good and the parity among NESCAC teams is tremendous, but there you are.  We had already guaranteed ourselves a home game for the playoffs regardless of the outcome, but of course, we wanted to finish strongly and end with a 9-1 record in Conference for the first time ever!  We had a great week of practice and celebrated Halloween at our final practice before hitting the road.  

As fate would have it, our woes seemed to continue as we went down 0-2 sets to Amherst the first night.  We couldn't seem to get any momentum, and they were fighting and winning the long rallies, it seemed.  Statistically, we had more kills and a higher hitting % (by a little bit), but they out blocked us and also had more service aces and those were two categories that we prided ourselves in all season, so that was disappointing.  Anyway, we came back to force a 5th and deciding set and seemed poised to erase a potentially bad loss but came up short and lost 10-15 in the final.  A bummer for sure, but we were on the road that night toward Hamilton with a chance the very next day to redeem ourselves and finish the regular season on a high note.

Not to be, apparently, as we promptly went down 0-2 sets again, just like the night before.  Again, we came back to win the next two and force a 5th and deciding set.  Against Bowdoin earlier in the season we'd broken a somewhat long streak of not winning 5th sets, and we felt confident that we could overcome anything...we narrowly lost the 2nd set and came back to win the 3rd and 4th sets in somewhat more dominating fashion keeping them in the teens both sets.  I think we felt like "it" was coming back, meaning our confidence and our style of play, so despite losing the first two sets, we felt ready to reverse sweep them for our final regular season win.  As in the night before, we had more kills and a higher hitting %, but got out blocked and had fewer service aces, which we knew was not a good combination. Lillian came through with a big performance with 15 kills and a .289 hitting % and Gabbie was only 1 kill away from a triple double (9 K, 46 As, 19 D), but it wasn't quite enough to stop them from grabbing the final set 13-15.  Needless to say, it was a very disappointing weekend, and we'd need to do some soul searching before hosting a tough Bowdoin team in the NESCAC Quarterfinals at home the following weekend.

Senior Day Celebration and WIN

 

Senior Day is always a fun night to single out our seniors and celebrate their contributions to our Program.  We were unsure if Gabbie was going to be able to play until literally Saturday morning, affecting our game plan a bit, but thank goodness we had Bart this year...for the past two years we have not had a true backup setter, and fortunately we never had to figure out what we'd do IF Gabbie got hurt!

Once Caitlin tore her other knee in practice (SO SAD!), it left just Gabbie and Steph as the seniors in uniform, although Caitlin sat in for Brian as my Assistant Coach for our senior day match vs Wesleyan, which was great.  She has such a high volleyball IQ and always has relevant and motivational and insightful comments for the team, so she played a varied but key role despite her injury.  During our pre match serve and pass time we determined that Gabbie was indeed ready to play, which was amazing news!  These three seniors have given so much to our Program over their years, it's always fun to more formally celebrate them with their parents in town.  These are the posters for each player that the team put together for them and what was read before the game:

Stephanie Mayer is an International Politics and Economics Major with a focus in Spanish, and has a Minor in Computer Science.  She is from Wilmette, IL and is joined by her parents, Heidi and Greg Mayer.  Steph has been a two-time recipient of the Team Spirit Award, given by her teammates to recognize consistent positivity and the encouraging spirit of MIDD Volleyball.  

Caitlin Smith is a Psychology major and has a double minor in Spanish and Gender Studies.  Caitlin is from Mill Valley, CA and is joined by her parents, Julie and Brandon Smith.  Caitlin has been the recipient of our “Yellow Jersey” award given by her teammates, honoring the player that gives consistent effort daily in practice and who goes above and beyond in their efforts to become a better player throughout the season.  

Gabbie O’Toole is a Psychology Major with a minor in Global Health.  She is from Overland Park, KS, and is joined by her parents, Debbie and Kerry O’Toole.  Gabbie has had an illustrious career at Middlebury.  She was the NESCAC Rookie of the Year and the AVCA Region Freshman of the Year. She’s been 2^nd Team All-NESCAC twice and last year was 1^st Team All-NESCAC, as well as a multi-year Honorable Mention All-American and 1^st Team All-Region honoree.

After the second WIN against Wesleyan, and the one that counted, we were now 7-1 in NESCAC and heading into a non-Conference weekend vs three of the top NEWMAC teams.  Our final regular season weekend was the last NESCAC weekend vs Amherst and Hamilton.  With MIT ranked #4 in the country, we were excited about the upcoming weekend...

Battle of the Undefeated Teams

 

After a great Alumni Weekend, we headed up to Maine to face both Bowdoin and Colby, and Colby was the only other currently undefeated team left in the NESCAC, which was sure to be a battle.  We had to get through Bowdoin first, though!

After going down two sets to none against Bowdoin, it may have looked a little grim from the fan's perspective.  I don't know that we felt that the same on the bench since we weren't really playing all that badly, but it seemed to be a match of small swings in both directions.  We fought back to take the next two sets, albeit close ones, and the 5th set started somewhat the same, with small spurts by both teams.  

Molly came through for us, as usual and led all players with 19 kills, but Devin McCormack came through with her season high of 15 kills and gave us the boost we were looking for in a close match.  Gabbie O'Toole got a key block at 13-13 and then Devin slipped a little tip over the block for the WIN!!  

We had a higher hitting % (.237 to .202) despite having fewer overall kills (they had 65 to our 58, but also they had 27 hitting errors to our 17), giving us the edge in that category, as well as holding a slight blocking edge.  It was apparently a bit of a monkey off our backs as Caitlin told me after the game that that was the first 5 set match we'd won since 2021!  (Maybe I'm glad I didn't recall that stat at the time?!)  Anyway, the reverse sweep sure felt good!!  We got out Thai delivered to the hotel there in Brunswick and ate in the breakfast area while we all watched the 5th set of Williams vs Colby on our phones.  Williams was up in the 5th, but went on to lose, setting the stage for the two undefeated teams left to meet the next day!

Our first set against Colby was pretty close, but the big news during the match was that Gabbie sprained her ankle when a Colby hitter came under the net.  It was a bit intense as the Colby coach was disputing the ref's call while Gabbie is on the ground and clearly hurt, but our team rallied behind first year setter Campbell Bartley and remained very competitive for the rest of the match, despite losing in straight sets.  That was Campbell's first action of the year and despite the sad circumstances, she made us all confident knowing that our future would be bright--I mean, we do have to let Gabbie graduate after all.  This is a bit of foreshadowing, but that reverse sweep would bolster our confidence and propel us to greater heights...but not before we hit another roadblock other than Gabbie getting hurt...

Alumni Weekend = Gabbie O'Toole's 3000th Assist

Both Gabbie's 3000th Assist and our best attended Alumni Weekend needed more pictures and coverage, so this is an extra post expounding on both of those fun events!  Gabbie O'Toole became only the 2nd player in MCVB history to eclipse 3000 assists, and sits in 2nd place overall for a career with 3524 total assists.  Not only that, but she also ranks 5th overall for Service Aces/Set for a career with .42.  

This amazing feat came against a very young, but talented Tufts Team that we just out-played by making fewer errors, really.  And, it was awesome to have all our alums in the stands as well, so a big THANK YOU to all of them for coming back!  I want to give a special shout-out to Lucy Ambach and Kelly Ferrero as the main catalysts for getting people motivated to come back, which I think really helped our turnout.

This was our first alumni weekend where we had enough people to actually play a game on Saturday am before our Tufts match.  With the win over Tufts, we extended our win streak to 9 matches and remained undefeated in Conference!  

We had a fun meet-n-greet in Kenyon Lounge after the match so the current team could get acquainted with the alums and maybe even start to network a bit, which is always nice.  Then the alums headed downtown to Ups for a drink before going on to Flatbread for dinner.  I was able to join them for a quick drink at Ups--something we obviously never did when they were students, so that was fun!  What a group...watching the alumni game in the morning brought back great memories as I watched them warm up and play.  MCVB definitely IS family for life!!

Slow Start, but Win Streak Bolstered at Hom

We had a very tough schedule this year, as usual.  We opened our season at Ithaca, which has been a perennial NCAA team and was pre-season ranked in the top #25.  Starting out with them was a great way to test our metal, and although we came up short, I think we came away feeling like we had a lot of potential in our somewhat young team.  With 6 players in the junior and senior classes and 10 first years and sophomores, we are definitely a bit on the young side.  On day 2 that first weekend, we dropped a close 5 setter with St. John Fisher that we felt like maybe we let slip away, although I was confident that they'd end up being a very good team (ended up Regionally Ranked). We capped off that first weekend with a sweep of Rochester, whom we'd lost to the year before in 5 sets, so that felt good.  All in all, our take-away from our first weekend as OPTIMISM if not total performance.

After losing for the first time in almost 20 years to St. Mikes, we went down to Smith for a tournament where we went 2-1, only losing to Smith in a 5 set thriller 13-15 in the 5th.  I won't talk about the lead we had in the 5th, but they put together a string of points when they needed it the most to win, so hats off to them (and Caitlin's twin, who plays for Smith).  Smith went on to have a record-setting year for the Program and won the NEWMAC over top seeded and Nationally ranked MIT.

After that weekend, getting two wins in a row, one against Wesleyan (NICE), and one against another NCAA team in Gallaudet, we started what would become an 11 game win streak, only capped by a loss to Colby who had risen to a National rank of #7!  That stretch included sweeps over Conn and Trinity as well as wins over Williams (26-24, 20-25, 26-24, 26-24) and both Bates and Tufts.  It also included the future NCAA team of UMass Dartmouth and a Regionally ranked Union team.  Gabbie O'Toole ended up eclipsing the 3000 Assist mark during our Tufts match, in front of her parents and all of our alums back for Alumni Weekend!!

It was so amazing to have all these alums back in the house!  AND, for two big Conference WINS to remain undefeated in NESCAC!  Jordan and Tanner logged in as the oldest alums back, which was exciting for me.  They were both part of our very FIRST NESCAC Championship back in 1997!  They had their son with them who was looking at Middlebury.  

Pre-Season Activities

 

Pre-Season starts with moving in and a Team/Family BBQ at my house every year.  It's a great beginning to our season and gets the parents and new players acquainted with each other and the team family atmosphere.  It's always nice when the weather cooperates, and this year was great.  The team just barely fits in our dining room, but I think they all got around the extended table!

The parent group is also a great one and despite the distance some of the team comes from, we had a good parent turn-out, which was really nice.  Here's a picture of the parent group also.  The gorgeous flowers were a very sweet gift to start the season, and I even took the smaller bouquet to my office to liven it up for pre season!

Also during pre-season, we did line dancing with the women's soccer team and the field hockey team--SO FUN!!  Due to acclimatization, we ease into practice and don't have double sessions until almost 5 or more days in, but they get to spend time arranging their rooms, hanging out and getting to know the new people, while also doing some team trainings together.

Additionally, during our pre-season we have the extra time to go and help out at the local high school with their volleyball team.  MUHS is now in their second full season as a varsity team, and we have a really nice relationship with them, so it's something that both teams really enjoy!!  It's great to be back and getting started together!!  

We also got to attend a home game that saw them win in a 5-set thriller!  LET'S GO MIDD/MUHS!!!

Juniors Study Abroad: First Up is Caitlin in Argentina

 

All three of our juniors are studying abroad this Spring, and our first highlight will be from Caitlin, who's studying in Argentina.  She's doing a home stay and had two different families hosting her during her stay.  Pictured here is the first family to host her, along with Caitlin's family and some other MIDD friends, followed by her second host family.

Next, we have the picture of the outside of her university in Buenos Aires.  It sounds like Caitlin is having a fantastic time exploring, learning from her host families, having family visit, and having adventures with her Program friends.  What a great experience--thanks for sharing with us, Caitlin!

The final pictures are a group of Caitlin's friends in the middle of the widest avenue in the world to the right, and a view of La Boca, a famous neighborhood in the city below!!

We miss you, Caitlin, but are SO happy for you to be having this amazing experience abroad!  Enjoy and thanks for the update!

Feb Graduation for Kelly Ferrero--'23.5

We're always sad to see our seniors go, and Kelly Ferrero has been one of our longest tenured players, ever. Several years ago, Whitney Bean ('10.5) ended up applying for and getting a medical waiver so she ended up getting her four full seasons while being here part of 5 seasons, but Kelly was here for her COVID Fall season, when we just practiced, plus four full, regular seasons. Finally, I guess, she had to graduate and leave. We'll miss her, but it's fun to take part in a very unique MIDD tradition of "Feb Graduation" where the graduates have their ceremonial procession at the College owned ski mountain!

All four of Kelly's former (or original) classmates returned for Graduation: Lucy,  Addie, and Laney in the picture to the left, and Lucy, (Lexi '24), Manya and Addie below.

Here are some pictures from the outdoor celebration and ski procession!  So fun!

Team Celebrates Season with Banquet

Fire and Ice was our location of choice this year for our Team Banquet.  It's always a fun time to come together again and celebrate our season.  There are certificates to hand out from the many post-season awards, but also the Team votes on a handful of awards, and then we celebrate our Seniors!  Our Team Awards winners this year were the following:

Panther Pride "Best Teammate"--Kelly Ferrero

Culinary Logistics--Katie Kraczkowsky (I came up with this one because Katie was such a huge help with the food orders on our road trips!)

MCVB Spirit "Positive and motivational spirit of MCVB"--Stephanie Mayer

Yellow Jersey "Consistent Effort, day in and day out"--Molly Harrison

Then, we celebrated our Seniors with the fleece blanket embroidered with their # and MCVB, and the freshman get their "old school" Varsity Letters!  

And, we can't leave out our sophomore and junior classes!!  The juniors will all be going abroad Spring Semester, and only Caitlin will be on campus for J-term, so the next time we'll all be together will be pre-season 2024!!  Thanks for a great season, Team!

Post Season Honors Abound

 It was a great season overall, and I'm very proud of this team!  We ended with a 16-9 overall record; 7-3 Conference record, good for #3 seed in the NESCAC Tournament.  We also finished ranked 2nd in New England, earning one of THREE at-large bids for NESCAC teams.  In typical fashion after a season like this, we had many people getting honors in the post-season awards.

Once again, this year, like last year, every upperclassman on the team was honored as an Academic All-NESCAC team member.  Freshmen aren't eligible, but to have every other member of the team achieve this level of academic prowess is something we're very proud of!

On top of that, both Molly and Gabbie O'Toole were named 1st Team All-NESCAC, and Katie was 2nd Team.  Then, we had four players make both All-Region and Honorable Mention All-American!!  It was truly a well-rounded team with two of those honorees being seniors, one junior and one freshman! Congratulations to all!

Additionally, Britt was honored by her teammates with her second consecutive All-Sportsmanship nod, so I just had to post her announcement with the picture of her loyal fan club below it!  We had some great fans this year, but Britt may have had the best show of support with these shirts--loved it!!

Season Ends in NCAA Regional Semi-finals

 

After a first round game that saw most people get into the game, we faced a very tough second round opponent in the host school, Johns Hopkins.  Against Manhattanville, Lauren led the way with 8 kills, followed by a trio of players with 6 (Kaite, Ava, Molly), and then Lexi and Steph had 5 and 3 kills respectively.  We led in every statistical category and had a somewhat dominant performance.  It was a great match, and a good start to our weekend!  (It was also my 500th win, which as coaches, we know just means I've been around a long time, but nice to get that milestone with this group in that setting!)  Another bonus of the weekend location was that Jack was close enough from home to come and help us out!  Always great to have Coach Jack back on the bench!!

The Hopkins match was a very tight match, and I felt like we played them very tough, pushing it out to four sets, but we couldn't quite force the 5th set.  We lost a tough first set in extra points 24-26, and won the second set, but couldn't come up with the points to push the score to even in the third and fourth sets.  Overall, we felt good about our performance.  They had one OH that we just couldn't contain who went off for 26 kills, but other than that one player, I think we more than held our own.  Ava led the way with 13 kills, followed by Katie with 11 and Molly with 10.  Lexi had a match high 5 blocks, followed closely by Molly with 4 and Ava with 3.  Kelly also had a match high 28 dig performance, landing her a spot on the NCAA Regional All-Tournament Team!

It's always hard to say goodbye to seniors, and this class really came together and propelled the team to a great season despite some injuries and tough losses.  We will certainly miss them all, but we also have a good core of returning players and a new group of freshmen coming in that we're excited about to continue our growth!